The Dispatch E-Edition

All current subscribers have full access to Digital D, which includes the E-Edition and
unlimited premium content on Dispatch.com, BuckeyeXtra.com, BlueJacketsXtra.com and
DispatchPolitics.com.
Subscribe
today!

More Articles

CASSELTON, N.D. — A fiery oil-train derailment near this small town has its mayor calling for
federal officials to do more to guarantee the safety surrounding the nation’s growing shipment of
oil by rail.

Government regulators defended their record on moving hazardous materials by rail, noting that
2012 was the safest year in the industry’s history. But oil trains have bucked that trend, thanks
in part to the huge amount of oil being moved out of western North Dakota, where the industry’s
rapid growth far outpaces pipeline development.

No one was hurt when the milelong BNSF Railway train derailed on Monday afternoon, but the
overturned tankers — exploding and engulfed in plumes of flames and black smoke for more than 24
hours — burned so hot that emergency crews didn’t even attempt to put out the blaze. Most of the
town’s roughly 2,400 residents agreed to evacuate because of concerns about unsafe air.

“This is too close for comfort,” Casselton Mayor Ed McConnell said yesterday.

The overall rate of oil-train accidents remains low — less than 0.1 percent of crude-carrying
tank cars have suffered accidental releases this year — but there’s been a sharp increase in the
number of releases over the past several years. That’s driven by a surge in drilling for shale oil
in North Dakota and other Western states.

Through November, crude releases had been reported from 137 rail cars in 2013, according to an
analysis of federal accident records. By comparison, there was only one release reported in 2009,
before the boom got well underway.

The rail tracks in eastern North Dakota run straight through the middle of Casselton, about 25
miles west of Fargo. McConnell estimated that dozens of people could have been killed if the
derailments had happened within the town.

“There have been numerous derailments in this area,” he said. “It’s almost gotten to the point
that it looks like not if we’re going to have an accident, it’s when.”

Gov. Jack Dalrymple visited Casselton, his hometown, to view the scene. He called it a “major
catastrophe.”

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

Officials canceled the voluntary evacuation recommendation yesterday after air-quality tests
came back positive.